Waiting for a Miracle
by Angustias
Summary: Merlin and Arthur are in a car crash, will they survive? My first modern AU. Rated T for graphic imagery and blood in general.
1. Chapter 1

**I was in a car crash recently and have been trying (rather unsuccessfully) to get this little idea out of my head since. Hopefully now that I've started writing it out my muse for my other fic will come back!**

**Warnings: graphic imagery and blood**

**Disclaimer: Don't own Merlin**

**This is my first modern AU so enjoy!**

* * *

"Merlin!" Arthur's exasperated and slightly concerned tone filled the car, "Sit down and put your seatbelt back on."

"Hang on a minute, Arthur." Merlin replied, his boney elbow poking painfully into the blonde's rib cage as he dug through the back seat in search of his phone. "I wouldn't have to do this at all if you hadn't insisted on being such a prat."

"Oh please," Arthur said, rolling his eyes, "I only threw it back there because you were too busy texting to pay attention to what I had to say."

"I'm perfectly capable of texting and listening to you at the same time."

"Sure you are, that's why I had to repeat myself three times before you realized I'd asked you a question, right?"

"Okay so maybe I can't do both at the same time but I was texting my mum, you could have just waited a few seconds until I was done. You certainly didn't have to rip the phone out of my hands and chuck it back here."

At that, a slightly remorseful look flitted across Arthur's face and he had a sudden urge to apologize to his friend but he ignored it, he didn't apologize to anyone, not ever.

"Well, are you almost done? You need to get back in your seat."

"I've almost got it, if I could just…"

"Merlin?"

"There! I got-"

Merlin's voice cut off suddenly as a violent impact shook the car and he was thrown back towards the windshield. Arthur spun the wheel wildly, tires squealing on the pavement as he tried to avoid crashing into the semi truck that had clipped them as it changed lanes.

He cursed as he felt the tires skid ineffectually across the asphalt and threw the wheel the other way, which only served to change the direction of their uncontrollable slide. He had the brake pedal smashed to the floor, holding it down with both feet but it was doing little good and they were once again headed straight for the trailer that had caused this whole mess.

In a last ditch effort, Arthur spun the wheel again, hoping the friction of the tires against the road would slow them enough to lessen the impact if, no _when_, they hit the other car. What he didn't count on, couldn't have predicted was that the tires on the right side of the vehicle would leave the ground completely, unbalancing the Escalade enough that it tipped over completely, crashing through the guardrail beside the highway and rolling down the hill until it came to a shuddering stop at the bottom of the ravine.

The airbag deployed belatedly, blocking Arthur's vision and filling his nose with the acrid smell of gunpowder. A car alarm was shrilling incessantly somewhere in the distance, adding to the pounding headache that was trying to claw it's way out of his skull. He thought he should probably get out of the car but he couldn't get his arm to move the way he wanted it to; his hand was coated in something warm and sticky that made grasping the seatbelt clasp almost impossible.

He took a brief moment to be thankful for the fact that they had landed upright and tried to call out to Merlin, to ask if the boy was okay, but his voice didn't work. All that came out was a harsh, raw-sounding croak so he closed his lips and reached out instead, feeling for Merlin in the seat beside him.

He pulled back violently as his fingers scraped against, not the soft leather seat as he'd expected, but a sharp, jagged piece of metal. Adrenaline finally kicking in and giving him the strength he needed to push the airbag out of his face, Arthur glanced around frantically.

The front windshield was completely blown out and the hood was crumpled almost to the steering wheel. There was thick black smoke rising from the engine and, as Arthur glanced towards the seat beside him, his breath caught in his throat. The door of the sedan had been crushed in until the passenger seat was wholly obstructed from view, the leather torn to shreds by the large shards of metal that had been sheared from the doorframe.

"Merlin." Arthur whispered, beginning to panic, "Merlin!"

He worked at the seatbelt with renewed vigor, breathing a sigh of relief when the restraint finally gave way and stumbled from the car, barely registering how miraculously unscathed the driver's side had remained. Where was Merlin? He needed to find him right away, he'd promised to keep the younger boy safe.

He was still stumbling around aimlessly, trying desperately to stay conscious and on his feet until Merlin was located, when he heard someone shouting his name from the top of the ridge.

"Arthur! Oh my God, Arthur, are you alright?"

He looked up and saw his girlfriend, Gwen, peering over the mangled rail at the top of the steep hill but he ignored her, Merlin was more important right now. Where _was_ he, he couldn't have gotten far, right?

* * *

**I am planning on continuing this story but I need some help deciding whether Merlin should live or die. I've got ideas for both scenarios so please leave a comment and I'll write the one that gets the most votes.**


	2. Chapter 2

**I have decided to write both endings to this story, one where Merlin dies and one where he lives, but we've got a few chapters to go before that happens. This will be a very angst heavy story with some pretty graphic descriptions so if you don't like that, don't read it.**

**Thank you very much for all the reviews, favorites, and follows, they make me happy and motivate me to write faster.**

**Sorry about the delay, I'm planning to have the next chapter up much sooner so enjoy!**

* * *

This wasn't supposed to happen, it wasn't supposed to end up this way. They had been on a road trip to visit Arthur's older sister Morgana in North Carolina, they were supposed to be having fun, laughing and joking and playing pranks, not sitting on the side of the road somewhere in the mountains of Tennessee.

How could this have happened? Sure, people got in car accidents all the time but not him, never him, and most definitely not Merlin. What had they ever done to deserve this? Arthur liked to think of himself as a good person, at least for the most part, and Merlin was practically angelic, the kid couldn't tell a lie to save his life and was far more innocent than any sixteen year old had a right to be.

Merlin would be fine, he had to be, surely there was an explanation, a simple reason he wasn't in the car. Maybe he'd managed to get out before they rolled down the slope. Yes, that was it, Merlin was fine. Any minute now he'd pop out from behind a rock or a tree or even the mangled mess that the car had become. He would flash Arthur the stupid goofy grin that never seemed far from his face and everything would be fine. Arthur had to believe that everything would be alright because if it wasn't… well he didn't even want to think about what would happen if it wasn't.

"Merlin!" He called again, lurching forward as a wave of dizziness washed over him. He paused, gripping the side of the car as if his life depended on it until the unsettling feeling passed, then continued making his way slowly around the hood. It felt like he had been walking for miles but a quick check revealed that he'd only managed to hobble a few feet. What was wrong with him?

Before he could do anything else, a crippling pain lanced through his skull and he dropped to his knees, clenching his teeth and clutching his head with both hands. It felt like someone was trying to rip his eyes out of their sockets and it was all he could do to remind himself to breathe. The world was whirling madly, blurring as it spun out of control so he clenched his eyes shut, breaths coming in short, sharp gasps as he waited for it to stop.

When the pain finally receded to a dull throbbing at the back of his skull, Arthur pried his eyes open and pushed himself to his feet, leaning heavily on the still smoking engine of the car to keep his balance. He dragged himself along, adrenaline giving him the strength he needed to put one foot in front of the other until; at last, he made it to the other side of the car.

He stopped for a minute, closing his eyes, and took a deep breath to calm his nerves. There was absolutely nothing to be worried about, Merlin was fine. They had been in their fair share of close shaves before and the boy had always managed to make it out unharmed so why should this be any different? True, it was a bit more serious than the other situations they'd found themselves in over the years but why should that matter?

"Okay." Arthur breathed, opening his eyes and pushing away from the car slightly to take in the scene before him. His legs were still a little shaky but he managed to stay on his feet long enough to skirt the tree that had halted their downward slide and was now practically buried in the engine of the sedan.

The passenger side of the car came into view and Arthur's breath left him in rush as his knees buckled beneath him. He barely managed to catch himself, sliding down the rough bark of the tree until he sat on the leaf-strewn ground below with his head between his knees.

"Oh God." He whispered, losing what little control he'd managed to scrape together in the past few minutes because there was no denying the obvious now. Merlin was not okay, he couldn't be, there was too much blood. It was dripping from the jagged shards of glass that framed the window, running down the side of the car in streaks as it stained the silver paint an ugly crimson.

He put his hands on the ground to brace himself but immediately recoiled when his fingers slid through something wet and warm. He was hyperventilating, he knew he was, but he couldn't do anything to stop it. There was blood, blood everywhere, it was all over the car and the ground, and his hands, even his shirt.

This wasn't happening, it couldn't be real, it was just a nightmare and he needed to wake up. The sun was too bright and he was dizzy, so dizzy. His vision was tunneling and he felt like he might pass out but he stopped himself, concentrating on the way his breaths were rasping in and out much too fast.

He tried to remember what he'd learned, head down, deep breaths, breathe through the nose, good, relax, bring the heart rate down, relax, close your eyes, deep breaths, that's right, okay, good, just breathe.

When he was finally able to calm his racing heart, Arthur stood, still feeling shaky but also determined. He had to keep going, he couldn't afford to be weak, not now, Merlin needed him. It was his fault that they were in this mess in the first place, he'd gotten them into it and he was going to get them out, even if it was the last thing he did.

* * *

**If Arthur's thoughts seem a bit disjointed it's because I'm trying to get across the idea that he's in shock, he's panicking, and he doesn't know what to do. I hope I succeeded but please leave a review and let me know either way!**


	3. Chapter 3

**New chapter! I'm not even going to try and guess how long this story will be because I usually end up embarrassing myself when I try. We'll get to see some Merlin in this chapter plus learn a bit more about the boys' friendship.**

* * *

No one had ever expected Merlin and Arthur to become friends; they didn't exactly have anything in common. Why would Arthur, quarterback of the football team, student body president, heir to the Pendragon dynasty and easily the most popular kid in the school want to associate with Merlin, the new kid, the freak?

He had to admit, they hadn't always gotten along, in fact, he'd done everything in his power to make Merlin's freshman year of high school a living hell. Looking back now, he was ashamed of the way he'd treated the younger boy, but at the time he'd only cared about pleasing his friends and maintaining his celebrity status with the girls.

Merlin's first day at Camelot High had been about a month after school started and it had fallen to Arthur to make the boy feel welcome, one of the major downsides, in his opinion, to holding a position in student leadership. He'd walked into the office that day to find a skinny, dark-haired genius that didn't look a day over ten, flipping through a dog-eared copy of _War and Peace_ like it was a comic book.

It had turned out later that the boy was actually thirteen, still really young to be starting high school, but he had skipped a couple of grades along the way. As if it wasn't enough that the scrawny kid was a foot shorter than everyone else and had an IQ to rival Einstein, his eyes were hidden behind thick glasses that gave him an owlish look so innocent that it was just begging to be wiped off his pale face.

Of course, since that first day Merlin had wised up a little bit, ditching the glasses in favor of contact lenses and trading in his striped polo shirts for skinny jeans and rock band t-shirts. A few substantial growth spurts and a proper haircut had also gone a long way in helping him distance himself from the whiz-kid image he'd presented when he walked into Arthur's life so long ago.

Snapping out of his memories, Arthur limped the final few steps to the back of the car and finally laid eyes on the object of his search, his best friend, the boy he'd come to love and respect like the little brother he'd always wanted but never had, and it was all he could do to keep himself on his feet, to refrain from collapsing into the sobbing, shivering mess he so desperately wanted to become because Merlin did not look good, he did not look good at all.

The boy's chest, from what Arthur could see through the tattered remains of his t-shirt, was a mass of bruises and cuts and he would be surprised if Merlin hadn't broken every bone in his left arm from the way it was twisted grotesquely underneath him. His face had remained relatively unscathed, aside from the large graze at his hairline that was oozing copious amounts of blood and the slightly crooked set of his nose.

As his horrified gaze wandered further down his friend's body, Arthur breathed a sigh of relief that Merlin's legs both seemed to be in working order but quickly sucked the air back in when he caught sight of the gash in the boy's calf. It was huge, extending nearly halfway up his shin from his ankle and the material around it was already soaked through with blood.

One of Merlin's shoes was missing, leaving his bare foot scraped and dirty but Arthur fixated on the fact that the other trainer had remained a pristine white, escaping the filth and grime of the scene in an ironic twist of fate. He might have found it funny if the situation hadn't been so serious but now it just left him confused, off-balanced and unsure of himself.

He had never been one to believe in God, or have anything to do with religion for that matter; he'd always assumed that the concept of a loving, caring higher power was just a crutch for the people who were too weak to accept the harsh realities of the universe, but now he hoped with all his might that he had been wrong, that there was a god and that, wherever he was, he really did care about what happened on Earth.

He was praying, almost without realizing it, mouthing an endless litany of desperate pleas as he threw his thoughts skyward, begging anything and everything that he could think of to help him, to save his friend. Merlin didn't deserve to die and if there was any sort of justice in the universe, he would survive, he had to, right? No loving God would take him away, not now, not like this.

Arthur pulled his gaze away from Merlin's shoe and stumbled over to the boy's side; his entire body feeling like it was weighted down with lead, barely able to work up enough energy to put one foot in front of the other. He dropped to his knees and raised a trembling hand to wipe away the tears that were blurring his vision, leaving burning trails along his skin as they rolled down his cheeks and dropped to the ground.

He reached out towards his friend but his hands stopped before making contact, hovering uselessly a few inches off the boy's chest as if they'd met with some sort of invisible barrier. Arthur didn't know what to do, how to help, and it was killing him; there was nothing he hated more than feeling helpless but that was exactly what he was now, completely and utterly incompetent, worthless.

No! He couldn't think like that, it wasn't true and it wouldn't do anyone any good. He wasn't worthless, he could save Merlin, he could do something to help, but what? He racked his brain, running his hands through his hair as he struggled to control his breathing and think of something that would improve their situation, anything at all.

After a few seconds it came to him, an idea so simple and basic that he couldn't decide whether to laugh in relief or kick himself for his stupidity. Of course! What's the first thing you're supposed to do in an emergency? Call 911!

Taking another calming breath, Arthur dug his phone out of his pocket and flipped it open, cursing his trembling hands as he tried to focus his blurry vision on the screen. It took a few tries but he finally managed to punch the numbers correctly and almost cried in gratitude when he heard a woman's voice on the other end.

_911, what's your emergency?_

* * *

**I'm leaving on vacation for Michigan in a couple days and I'll be there for three weeks with limited access to wifi so no guarantees about when the next update will be. I promise to do my best to make it as soon as possible and, in the meantime, thanks for your patience!**


End file.
